View full sizeRick Bowmer/The Associated PressDale and Shannon Hickman arrive today at the Clackamas County Courthouse in Oregon City. The Hickmans are charged with second-degree manslaughter in the death of their son, who was born prematurely and lived for nine hours.

Dale and Shannon Hickman made "a horrible choice" for their child when they decided to go to a relative's house for the premature birth instead of immediately heading to a hospital, a pediatrician testified Friday at the couple's manslaughter trial.

The Hickmans' son, David, was born two months prematurely and lived less than nine hours.

If the Hickmans had sought medical help in the first few hours of David's life, the baby had about a 90 percent chance of survival, said Dr. Dan Leonhardt, a pediatrician and child abuse expert at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. "In this case, a 9-1-1 call is all it would have taken," Leonhardt said under questioning from prosecutor Mike Regan.

Leonhardt, who reviewed medical records and saw David in brief video clips taken at the birth, said he saw a baby that appeared to be 30 to 32 weeks old. The baby's forearm appeared to be smaller than an adult's index finger.

The Hickmans, who are charged with second-degree manslaughter for failing to provide necessary medical care for David, told investigators they believed the chid was approximately two month premature.

Leonhardt said the Hickmans made bad decisions at crucial times. When Shannon Hickman went into labor and experienced pain and cramping more than 17 hours before birth, she should have called her obstetrician, he said.

The Hickmans, however, did not have a doctor. They belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City faith-healing church, and adhere to the church's teaching to avoid doctors and put their faith in God to heal.

A few hours before David's birth, the couple went to the home of Shannon Hickman's parents. That was "a horrible choice for the safety of this baby," Leonhardt said.

View full sizeA home video (below) presented in court shows David Hickman shortly after birth.

Leonhardt said David Hickman was doomed without medical intervention. The baby had difficulty breathing from the start because his lungs were underdeveloped. Although the child was pink and crying at birth, that does not mean the 3-pound, 7-ounce baby was healthy.

Those present at the birth "were not seeing anything close to a normal healthy baby," Leonhardt said.

At first the baby would have started breathing rapidly and grunting as he struggled to get air, Leonhardt said. Eventually, the baby would grow weaker, skin color would change and breathing would slow then stop. "You don't have the energy to keep going," Leonhardt said.

When the baby turned gray and had obvious difficulty breathing, defense attorneys said the Hickman felt a call for help would have been futile. The baby died minutes later.

That's not a legitimate excuse, Leonhardt said, because no one could tell how much longer David would live.

There were several effective treatments available to slow labor, strengthen the baby before birth and assist with breathing after birth, Leonhardt said. Likewise, antibiotics would have fought off a life-threatening bacterial infection present in the child.